Return of El Niño, Vampires with SARS, and more

The "child" El Niño is back. Meteorologists say the weather event will be weak to moderate at first, but may strengthen later this year. The effects of El Niño include powerful storm systems in the western US, floods in Central and South America, and droughts in south-east Asia. The last event was in 2006.

Oysters back too

After decades of overharvesting, oysters are returning to Chesapeake Bay on the US east coast. Experimental reefs created five years ago are now home to more than 185 million native oysters, say researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg (Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.1176516).

Bomb pull-forward

The US Department of Defense has asked Congress for an extra $68 million to develop a 13-tonne "bunker-busting" bomb called the Massive Ordnance Penetrator. The Pentagon declined to say why it now wants ...

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